FOOD BAZAAR — Attraction in City of Mount Vernon

Please don't buy any grains here (rice, oats, etc.). This Food Bazaar has a pantry moth problem, and pantry moths are annoying to get rid of and contaminate your dry foods. My family and I bought a 30 lbs. bag of rice from this Food Bazaar. Went home, opened it, and found that it had pantry moths walking among the grains of rice and their larvae in it. We threw it out thinking it was a bad batch, and in good faith bought another bag from the store a few weeks later.

When I went to open this bag, AGAIN, there were moths in it. Binned the bag, swore off rice for the rest of my life, bought some traps just in case any of them escaped the bag, etc., etc.. I just bought a bag of plain oats from there a few days ago, and lo and behold, I find a little colony of moths in this bag too!

You may ask "What makes you think these things came from Food Bazaar and not your house?" Well, we didn't have these moths before we bought that bag of rice. Second, I went back to the store and saw these same moths flying around the store in multiple aisles. It wasn't just one or two, there were multiple of these annoying things. When we buy dried grains from other stores, we don't find these little pests. We've determined that this Food Bazaar is the issue, have taken pictures of the unopened bag of oats with the moths chilling in it, and will not be back. Save your money and your pantry, don't...

OK prices but they could be better. Big parking lot in front. It's got variety of products from the Caribbean, Latin and North Americas, and I can usually get everything I need at this big supermarket. There is a recycling unit on the right side of the entrance.

Produce and meat is always fresh. What I don't like is the temprature they keep in fresh produce and meat areas. It is literally like a huge freezer there. If you stay a bit longer, you'll get frost bites on your hands. They should put those closed coolers and refrigerators instead of open ones. I've never experienced cooler supermarket anywhere in the world. I warn everbody to get dressed for winter when they go to shop meat and produce at this place.

Second thing that is annoying is that they ask you to leave your backpack outside at customer service. It's a problem if you want to use it to put stuff you just bought inside. You have to bring the trolley there and repack again.

If you're looking for some help from staff, you can only get it at the cash register because you can hardly find any staff in between the aisles.

With little improvement they can be 5 star. I recommend...

This is my local supermarket. It used to be a Pathmark years ago, so its a really large store. There is a full butcher shop that has various meats that you can have cut while you wait. There is a decent seafood section with frozen and "fresh" (not frozen) fish to choose from and there are attendants that clean and cut the fish for you as you wish. There is a large produce section - alot of it is based on caribbean cuisine (plantain, dashine, coconuts, etc.). The store shelves also have a large variety of items from several nationalities/ethnicities, hispanic, italian, caribbean, etc. including seasonings, pastas, drinks, desserts and the like. This is a great place to pop into if you dont want to spend too much money, and prefer to purchase international foods. There is a hot food section that sells delicious fried chicken (tastes like home made), but you have to get there early in the day to get it because it runs out fast and they stop serving it around 4 pm. Lots of parking, and there is a bottle return section there as well. There is a lady in the vestibule of the store that collects bags to prevent...